Profile / Characteristics
| English translation | Latin declination and pronunciations | Size/ °² | # stars (visible) |
| the Fly | Musca – MUSS-cuh Muscae – MUSS-see, MUSS-kee | 138 | 63 |
Main Star (brightest one):
| Designation | HIP number | name in IAU-CSN | brightness |
| α Mus | HIP 61585 | – | 2.65 mag (V) |
Our (modern) Explanation
The fly was created by Dutch sailors in the 1590s. As they had used the asterism of The Cross to navigate southwards, and there is a similar asterism of the False Cross, the fly might be an invention to prevent misnavigation.
Ancient Globes
Farnese Globe
Kugel Globe
Mainz Globe
–
–
–
Ancient Lore & Meaning
Aratus
–
Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34
Pseudo-Eratosthenes
–
References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris
English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics
Early Modern Interpretation
Contemporary
As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.
